(The following unsigned article, entitled "Truth on the Other Side of the Pyrenees," was printed in the August 29 issue of Rouge, the weekly supported by the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, French section of the Fourth International. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
Beyond the criticisms (printed elsewhere in this issue) of the content of the common agreement signed between the PCP and the Portuguese far-left groups, the document has been rightly seen by many militants in the workers movement as a small historical event. And commented on in this light.
In fact it is the first time a Stalinist party, faced with a rising revolutionary ferment that is radicalizing increasingly important fringes of the workers vanguard to its left, negotiated and signed an agreement on this level with several far-left groups, including a Trotskyist organization.
The breach is rather large. Will it be necessary to revise the almost fifty-year-old police fables about "Hitlerite-Trotskyism"? Or to abandon them altogether?
The fact is that l'Humanité is somewhat embarrassed. It was three days ago that the agreement was signed. And the French CP daily has still not informed its readers of the exact list of signatories. It has been content to speak modestly and in general about a text of agreement between the Portuguese CP and some "minority left movements."
In no way do we support the basis of this agreement. But if a Communist party that is considered one of the most traditionalist in Europe can associate with Trotskyists under the perspective of a "workers government of revolutionary unity," it should be possible to attain concrete unity in action between the Communist and far-left parties in countries other than Portugal, and on more limited points.
As far as we are concerned, we are ready to organize a common campaign with the Communist party, the Socialist party, and all the workers organizations, a common campaign of support to the Portuguese revolution, against the intrigues of reaction, against NATO and the threats of the imperialist bloc, for the defense and extension of the conquests of the Portuguese proletariat, and for the defense of the organs (commissions, committees, assemblies) that they have set up for themselves.
We formally propose such a campaign and are ready to discuss the exact bases for it.
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